Democrats Draft Contra Aid Plan

August 1, 1988|By Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are drafting a proposal to release $18 million in frozen military aid to the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua if that government continues to thwart the regional peace plan.

When the Democratic plan is completed, Majority Leader Robert Byrd may approach Minority Leader Bob Dole, who has his own plan to funnel both military and humanitarian aid to the rebels. The Dole plan could come up for a vote this week.

Chairman David Boren, D-Okla., of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the proposal would also prohibit further votes on Contra aid this year. That would in large part remove the issue of Contra aid from the presidential campaign.

The Democratic ticket may face embarrassment on this issue. Presidential candidate Mike Dukakis has called Contra aid ''illegal and immoral,'' while his running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, has supported military aid for the Contras.

Boren, a longtime supporter of Contra aid, told reporters Sunday that he was acting as Bentsen's surrogate in the Democratic Contra-aid negotiations.

Aides to Dukakis and Dole declined to comment Sunday on the Senate Democrats' plan. Military aid for the Contras has stronger opposition in the House than in the Senate.

House leaders could not be reached Sunday for comment. Speaker Jim Wright, a strong supporter of the regional peace plan drafted last summer by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, has said military aid would stand little chance of winning House approval.

Boren said House Democratic leaders have told him sentiment is shifting toward Contra aid because the Sandinista government has clamped down on the political opposition.

Under the proposal being drafted by the Senate Democrats, $18 million in lethal aid already appropriated but frozen would be released if the Sandinista government made an unprovoked attack on the Contras. Boren said the lethal aid already exists in warehouses outside the United States. The president would determine when such an attack is made.